Events

Stuever turns his unerring eye for the idiosyncrasies of modern life to Frisco, Texas, a suburb at once all-American and completely itself, to tell the story of the nation’s most over-the-top celebration: Christmas. Stuever starts the narrative as so many start the Christmas season: standing in line with the people waiting to purchase flat-screen TVs on Black Friday. From there he follows three of Frisco's true holiday believers as they navigate through the Nativity and all its attendant crises. Tammie Parnell, an eternally optimistic suburban mom, is the proprietor of "Two Elves with a Twist," a company that decorates other people's big houses for Christmas. Jeff and Bridgette Trykoski own that house every town has: the one with the visible-from-space, most awe-inspiring Christmas lights. And single mother Caroll Cavazos just hopes that the life-affirming moments of Christmas might overcome the struggles of the rest of the year. Stuever's portraits of this happy, megachurchy, shopariffic community are at once humane, heartfelt, revealing – and very funny. Tinsel is a compelling tale of our half-trillion-dollar holiday, measuring what we we've become against the ancient rituals of what we've always been. Hank Stuever is an award-winning pop culture writer for the Washington Post's Style section, where he has worked for the past decade. He has also been a reporter for newspapers in Albuquerque and Austin, and has twice been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. He is the author of Off Ramp, an essay collection, and Tinsel, a nonfiction book about Christmas. He has appeared on Today, The View, The Early Show, MSNBC and National Public Radio. He lives in Washington, D.C.